Hidden in Plain Sight

Eastern Screech Owl. Magee Marsh OH

This is a grey morph Eastern Screech Owl. They also come in red morphs, and the two colors are scattered randomly in the population where they overlap. This owl’s mate is a red. The screech owl is about as well camouflaged as any bird. There were birders on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh during the Biggest Week in American birding while I was photographing the owl who, despite my best efforts, the best efforts of many other helpful birders, to point the bird out, never did see it either with naked eye or binoculars. And this is about as exposed as it can get. Generally it is partially obscured by leaves. I say generally, because this owl has frequented the little angle of woodland where the boardwalk branches off to form the back loop for at least 3 years, and it was just up the boardwalk from there for several years before that. It is a faithful owl, if difficult to see 🙂

Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/80th @ ISO 800 @ f6.5. Processed in Topaz Denoise and Lighroom. Cropped slightly for composition.

 

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